Leftist Donna Brazile Warns The GOP Civil War is Over, The Tea Party Won

Old Clinton hack Donna Brazile has a message for her readers: the GOP civil war is over and the Tea Party won. While Brazile is usually fully expected to be typically and wholly wrong in her left-wing proclamations and while asking a liberal what is going on with conservatives is usually a waste of time, like the stopped clock, Brazile got this one more or less right.

Brazile piece written her piece for CNN notes that the whole of Washington was surprised by GOP strongman Eric Cantor’s primary loss and is shocked that he will not be returning to Congress even as he thought he was headed to a big primary win and looking forward to more and more power if not the Speaker’s chair itself.

After chronicling Cantor’s loss Brazile also touched on the run off that establishment Republican Thad Cochran has been reduced to in Mississippi and pointed out that Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell only won his own primary in Kentucky by edging closer to Tea Party principles during his campaign.

As a result of this, Brazile says, “even the candidates who are supposed to be the establishment have been pulled so far to the right by tea party challengers that there is no difference in their policies or rhetoric.”

Brazile got much of this right, really. Naturally all her caterwauling after the excerpt above was absurd. The GOP is not being “marginalized” nor is it extreme. She also made the risible claim that Democrats are “committed to helping provide economic security to middle-class families and addressing serious issues such as commonsense immigration reform.”

But Brazile’s points about the GOP in this primary season are essentially right. Many of the GOP’s biggest establishment candidates really have been forced to sound more Tea Partyish.

I you look at American politics, the GOP in general has certainly been dragged toward conservatism just as the Democrats have been driven even further the other way by its own internal forces.

Just for a few examples, the party has certainly moved right on abortion and gun rights. Twenty years ago you’d have found almost as many gun control Republicans as you would Republicans who thought the abortion battle was lost and the struggle against abortion on demand was a battle not worth fighting.

Believe it or not, the GOP has also edged more toward fiscal conservatism, too.

Of course, the big problem is that many Republicans mouth conservative ideals when they are running for office then as soon as they get to Washington DC they turn into big government pushing, spendthrifts belying their so-called principles.

Eric Cantor did this and it finally led to his political demise.

Anyway, the whole point here is to point out that even as we conservatives don’t feel like we’ve gotten anywhere, when you look at where the bulk of the party was in the 1970s, we clearly have swayed the party toward the right.

We have a long way to go, of course, but as conservatives we should have a bit of perspective here and realize we have made headway. I won’t say “the Tea party won” like Donna Brazile simply because the GOP has been edging toward more conservative ideals for decades longer than the Tea Party has been around. But, yes, progress is being made.

So your contention is necessarily that two left wing factions will never, ever fight a war with each other.

The fact is that the Nazi’s were socialist and believed in government control over people’s lives from education, to marriage to control over the economy (ever hear of VW? that was Hitler’s idea for how the auto industry should be run).

Seems that the one with the simplistic, everything must be right vs left, worldview is you. But then what else should we expect from the moron who still falls for AGW bullshit.

alanstorm

Steve, that was by far the stupidest thing you’ve ever posted here. Talk about a simplistic world view! (“These two groups fought, so OBVIOUSLY their political arrangements HAD to be opposites!”)

About what I expect from an Obama voter.

Here’s a couple clues:

Look up what “Nazi” stands for – you WERE aware that it’s a German phrase, and an acronym/contraction for a longer phrase, right?

Look up their party platform.

Fascism is one flavor of socialism. socialism is considered by roughly – well, EVERYONE – to be a leftist phenomenon.

Brucehenry

And the view that “the word ‘socialism’ is RIGHT THERE in the title!” means that fascism is a left-wing phenomenon is about what we’d expect from a Bush/McCain/Romney voter.

The fact that fascism was considered by roughly — well, everyone — AT THE TIME to be a right wing movement is of no importance I guess.

It’s only since the advent of right wing “think tanks”, say the late 1990s and early 2000s, that ANYONE has taken seriously the claim that fascism is a left wing ideology. And that’s because, like the “liberals are the real racists” meme, rubes like you and Jim have swallowed it whole.

I challenge you or Jim or anyone in this commentariat to find a serious claim from the 1930s that fascism was a phenomenon of the left. It was ALWAYS understood to be a right wing movement untill the likes of Jonah Goldberg discovered how gullible chumps like you guys really are.

Only if one defines everyone as the Soviets/Communists (no enemies on the left).

Jwb10001

You mean like the National Socialist of NAZI Germany or would you not consider NAZIs fascist.

Brucehenry

I rest my case ladies and gentlemen lol.

Jwb10001

Which case is that socialism is not leftist or that the NAZIs weren’t fascist? You accept without any critical questioning that NAZI and right wing go together like pees and carrots. It ain’t necessarily that way. It’s more complicated than that, sadly those complications don’t allow people like you to broadly smear conservatives.

Brucehenry

Again, Nazism and fascism were universally recognized AT THE TIME of their ascendance in much of Europe, as right wing phenomena. Only rubes who swallow tripe from rube-meisters like Jonah Goldberg believe fascism is a movement from the left.

Again, show me anybody calling fascism “leftist” in the 1930s, genius. Churchill knew it was a right wing movement. Roosevelt knew. Stalin DEFINITELY knew. Nobody called fascism a left wing phenomenon until conservative “think tanks” dreamed the idea up and imagined they had a gotcha. Don’t be an idiot.

And yes, Nazi is a contraction for “National Socialist.” So what? The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea isn’t democratic nor does it benefit the people. Ignoramuses claim that because the word “socialist” is in the name of the Nazi party it must be leftist. Nonsense.

I invite you to find out when a nearby neo-Nazi rally is being held and stroll up calling the geniuses attending “lefties” and see what happens.

About what one would expect of the hood ornament of a soi disant “cognoscenti veteran” (and anti-semite troofer).

Jwb10001

I didn’t realize we were talking about a loose group of skin heads and racists running around the country side screwing their sisters, I thought we were talking about the German government in the 30’s. But like I said you can’t smear conservatives if you don’t buy in to the simple NAZI/Right narrative. So congratulations Bruce you’ve made my point for me, I rest my case.

You’re basic argument is that NAZI equal right because that’s what people said at the time, and I’m the rube? People say your a dumb ass all the time doesn’t really make you one does it?

Brucehenry

No, the Nazis themselves presented themselves as “of the right.” It was understood by EVERYONE at the time that it was a right wing phenomenon, including the Nazis themselves, despite the word “socialist” being in the name of the party. Apparently “national” was supposed to modify “socialist” in such a way as to make the distinction.

Or rather, the German words for “national” and “socialist.” The Falangist parties who took power in Spain and Portugal, as well as the Nazi-type parties of Eastern Europe and the Nordic countries who may or may not have gained power in the 30s did not use the word “socialist” in their titles AFAIK.

And I do not mean to imply that, because the Nazis were a rightist phenomenon, that everyone on the entire right political spectrum should be tarred with the Nazi brush. Jeez, there is a pretty wide variation on both sides. Mitch McConnell is on the right, but he ain’t Hitler. Bernie Sanders is a Socialist but he ain’t Stalin.

SteveCrickmore075

Italian fascism was the first application of what would become a generic ideology encompassing, or allegedly encompassing, movements of the political right in every nation of Western Europe, the United States, the British Commonwealth nations and even Japan. It was believed by Italian leaders to be highly exportable, yet it carried strong Italian nationalistic overtones.http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v04/v04p–5_Whisker.html

The Italian who first coined the term fascism was, in his own words, a life long socialist. His system was an outgrowth of Socialism (as it was globally) and differed from Marxism primarily in being nationalistic vice international. Marxists/Leninists/Stalinists painted fascism as a creature of the “right” as their dogma held they had no enemies on the “left.”

The enduring myth of fascism being a creature of the right is a testament to Marxist propaganda and influence on language and indoctrination.

Jwb10001

And Bruce again rests his case without actually making any case at all.

SteveCrickmore075

If I had been an Italian I am sure that I should have been whole-heartedly with you from the start to finish in your triumphant struggle against the bestial appetites and passions of Leninism.”

The fact is that the fascists were socialist and their opposition to communism was primarily found in their nationalism and the objection that communists espoused loyalty to the Soviets over their home country.

Fascists were socialists as well as nationalists, that is why it is hard to pigeonhole them left v right. Their domestic politics were far left, their nationalism made them right wing.

One of the primary reasons that fascists are considered right wing is because Hitler refused to have the Nazi party seated on the left next to the communists.

alanstorm

Do you have a point for this quote, other than to metaphorically shout “Ohh! Shiny!”?

Commander_Chico

It’s pretty simple.

If you’re for detaining Americans without trial, reading their emails and listening to their phone calls without warrants, and torturing anyone, you’re a fucking fascist.

Only in the mind of a simple (as in simple-minded, aka stupid) soi disant “cognoscenti veteran” and troofer.

History is replete with regimes that detained their citizens without trial, and searched (or otherwise monitored) their citizens without court authorization. For most of the blood soaked 20th century those regimes were of the left, predominantly communist (see USSR, PRC, Pathet Lao, etc.)

jim_m

That would mean that you are a democrat since ALL dems are backing exactly that now that obama is President.

It isn’t about the principle with the left, it is about who benefits. As long as they are the ones benefiting they don’t care who is being oppressed. Pretty much defines Chico.

Jwb10001

I suppose attacking Americans with drones would qualify as well right?

alanstorm

The writer makes the claim that fascism was an ideology of the right, and fails to support that claim in any way. your point is…?

jim_m

This would be true if nationalism were the sole defining characteristic of fascism. But it isn’t, so it’s not.

There are plenty of right wing nationailst organizations that do not espouse the socialist style control over the economy and society that fascism does. All you see in your defense, narrow mindedness is that nationalism of the fascists. That was actually the least offensive part of their political ideology. What made them pernicious was their racism and their desire for total control over the lives of the people they rule over. This is why today’s dems are the perfect analogue to the fascists. The only difference is their inverted nationalism, which is expressed in a visceral hatred of all things American.

alanstorm

“The fact that fascism was considered by roughly — well, everyone — AT
THE TIME to be a right wing movement is of no importance I guess.”

You are correct. Why do we give a flaming crap what they called it at the time? Why would we not use the benefit of hindsight to describe what is was, rather than what it was perceived as?

“I challenge you or Jim or anyone in this commentariat to find a serious
claim from the 1930s that fascism was a phenomenon of the left.”

Again, who gives a flaming crap? We are blissfully unconcerned with that. What were it’s actual characteristics, and what does that describe?

You also failed to answer the second part.

The only gullible ones here are the ones with their lips firmly ensconced belong Obama’s waist.

You lose. Try again.

Brucehenry

Yes you are blissfully unconcerned with the actual history, and what the word actually means. That’s fine, Alan. Have a good time believing ahistorical nonsense. I think I’ll stick to facts.

Yes, well, liberal used to mean someone who believed in more freedom and less government domination of people’who lives. Now it means the opposite. I don’the hear you screaming at people to stop calling demo liberals.

So I guess that your desire to have words mean what they did in the 1930’same is highly selective.

alanstorm

Look in the mirror, child. You’re talking to yourself again.

Your opinion DNE “facts”.

alanstorm

Bruce, you’re so darn cute! In the midst of being wrong on one subject, you manage to be wrong on another. Yes, liberals are the real racists. You can’t support affirmative action after a couple of generations without being racist.

Liberals are the real racists. Explain why it is the obsession of liberals to classify everyone according to race. Explain why it is that liberals believe that blacks cannot compete on a level playing field according to ability.

Explain why liberals insist on race based college admissions when it has been shown in studies that the end result in black students that cannot keep up and end up flunking out of school. And the consequence of that is that since the vast majority of students that flunk out of college never return, what race based college admissions really does is select the best and the brightest of the black community for failure, thus ensuring that blacks remain a permanent underclass.

Don’t tell me that leftists aren’t racist. It is the clear result of their policies and even when these results are made public they still insist on maintaining those policies.

Why maintain a policy that is detrimental toward blacks if you aren’t a racist?

Brucehenry

Zzzzzz

jim_m

I know. It shows how insensitive you are to the real plight of minorities. You really do enjoy profiting by their suffering.

If you’re bored perhaps you should find less boring company elsewhere, hemorrhoid.

You surely shan’t be missed.

Constitution First

“The TEA Party won”
Yeah, all 1% of us.
Did it ever occur to anyone to compare and contrast the hysterical over reaction of the Progressive Left (and far too many RINOs) to the actual size of the TEA Party? it’s like 100-to 1.
Thou complain too loudly…
The hysterical over reaction far out weighs the actual threat. Or does it?

Is the idea of financial sanity and constitutional adherence so much of an anathema that it’s sunlight to a vampire?
One tiny disinfecting ray is death…?
Throw open the shades, Gertrude, Party Time!
TEA Party Time!

Hank_M

The far right Brazille talks about was the center-moderate a couple of decades ago. When democrats like Brazzile talk about left/right, it’s worth pointing out that it’s the left that has gone so far to the left and that is their reference point.
Todays establishment Republicans campaign as conservatives but govern from the left. just less so than todays progressives.

LiberalNightmare

“Todays establishment Republicans campaign as conservatives but govern from the left. just less so than todays progressives.”

Sounds familiar, I wonder where Ive heard that before – oh yeah, now I remember, I heard it before from the TEA Party.

Jwb10001

Everyone hates congress, the polling is very clear on that, no one except the tea party seems the least bit interested in doing anything about it. I know some of the people that have won these primaries develop some foot in mouth problems but I’d rather an honest poor politician over the class of white collar criminals now serving.

SouthOhioGipper

Well good. When the global supply chain collapses because these Tea Party isolationists gut American hegemony just like a democrat would… hope they learn how to sew animal skins into clothes.

Par4Course

Don’t make too much of Eric Cantor’s loss. Like any election result, there were many reasons. Further, it was only one Tea Party victory in a heavily Republican Virginia district. Generalizing to the whole country is unwarranted. It may be the sign of a trend or just an outlier.

The real problem in this country is not Obama and his minions – it’s those voters that elected and then reelected him. The list of Obama’s failures gets longer day by day. But will those who still think he’s the Messiah ever learn? Let’s see what happens November 4. If the Republicans hold the House and take the Senate, perhaps that will be a sign that America is ready for significant change. I’m optimistic but not overly so.

On the contrary, this was the biggest Congressional upheaval since Washington state deFoleyated.

For those who don’t remember, Speaker Tom Foley was defeated for re-election in his district.

jim_m

I was thinking about Dan Rostenkowski. Except, of course, the dems had no problem nominating him, it was when the people actually got a chance to vote that they threw the scumbag out.

p0rkch0pian

Donna Brazille is NOT a “leftist;” She is a certifiable Fascist, who would make Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini [not to mention Joe Stalin] proud.

Choose your descriptions carefully; your enemies do.

There is no “left” or “right”. There is Total government [Marxism-Fascism], zero government [Anarchy], and civil, republican government – as described in our Constitution.

Problem: Obamanoids and sundry other Fascists are ignoring our Constitution. we fail to defeat them, utterly, at our peril. Defeating amerikan Fascists is as – or more – important that the defeat of Tojo and Hitler, and, again, “utterly” is the operative adverb.